Mikugi
by Luigis Hat
Summary: In the Village Hidden in the Night, in the Land of Hills far to the West of Konoha,a Genin named Mikugi discovers that the government he serves is actually an oppressive fascist regime....
1. Chapter 1:Village Hidden in the Night

**The Story of Mikugi**

**Chp. 1:**

**The Village Hidden in the Night**

They had all waited for this day. The nine students that had passed the Ninja Academy sat in chairs, looking forward to their Chounin Instructor, Kajin. Kajin was a normal Chounin of the Village Hidden in the Night, wearing the required ninja headband with a crescent moon etched into the metal plate and the black ninja jacket all Chounin wore, complete with a similar little crescent moon designed into the back of the jacket. This was the day they had become Genin. They had all worked hard to do so, each one having their own reason for doing so. Now they only had to wait for the Jounin to arrive.

Mikugi, a messy green haired student with blue eyes thought. He wore the usual ninja sandals, black pants, gray shirt and a tan jacket. He always thought, this constant thinking comforted him and allowed him to figure everything out. Right now he was reviewing information, a habitual exercise in his head to keep his mind from wandering.

_This is the Village Hidden in the Night. _Mikugi thought. _The hidden ninja village of the Land of Hills, not ruled by a daimyo, ruled by the Shukage. The Shukage says that Safety is in Strength, the Shukage says he only cares for the people. The people need protectors, the Shinobi are their protectors, the Shinobi must be strong to protect, Safety in Strength._

'Safety in Strength…' He had seen that in all of the posters put up around the village. They depicted a heroic Hidden Night Ninja fending off bandits, mercenaries and other criminals from innocent civilians with of course the words at the bottom in big print. He saw similar posters such as "The Shukage is Watching" showing the Shukage himself in all his strength and glory looking down upon a village with the good citizens smiling and the traitors, enemy ninja and other evil people running away with panicked looks on their faces.

_The Shukage must see all, as more sight is strength, more sight means more enemies to see, more information to use and more enemies to root out and destroy to keep them from corrupting The Land of Hills. _Little did Mikugi know at the time that they were propaganda posters. He started to review information about his own classmates.

_Shenmaru Asinagi. Long Black Hair, ponytail, brown eyes. She wears ninja sandals,brown pants, white shirt with a camouflage jacket over it. Practices GenTai Jutsu, a Hidden Night style of fighting combining genjutsu and taijutsu into an effective strategy. Is reserved and calm, but not without emotion._

_Kegira Denjo. Short Red Hair, Green eyes. She wears green shirt, ninja sandals, blue pants. Equally skilled in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, allowing for full effective in both ranged and close combat. Fiery, impulsive, determined, but one can see some reason behind her actions._

_Kenratsu Dajiko. Long blonde hair, brown eyes. He wears a light blue shirt, grey pants, and ninja sandals. Comes from the Dajiko Clan, whose Kekkai Genkai allows them to fly without support, like the rest of his clan he has an affinity for Wind Element jutsu. His hair makes him look like a girl. He is a bit rash, I've heard he has bad luck, can't find evidence to support this as he performs well in the academy and gets good grades-_

The info review was cut short as Kajin announced "Ok, I'll be calling out the teams you've been assigned to. Team 11: Sinisho Nakamani, Takena Shunitsu and Sanaji Tokorano" Sinisho, a creepy guy with combed black hair and orange eyes, Takena a girl with tan skin, long brown hair and dark blue eyes like her father Shukage and Sanaji a girl with short black hair which had stripes died blood red, green eyes and oddly pale skin who had a picture of a bat tattooed on her arm all straightened up when their name was called.

"Team 12: Chinaka Matsuya, Kenratsu Dojiko and Miyomi Jiniga." Chinaka had dark brown hair and blue eyes, Mikugi remembered she was related to one of the Jounin, Dojikan Matsuya. Miyomi had violet hair but plain brown eyes, she was also related to a Jounin but he remembered it being Rakaru Jiniga and he had gone rogue a few months ago, which prompted another memory; they had to get a new Jounin to take his place because of this. "Team 13: Kegira Denjo, Shenmaru Asinagi and last but not least, Mikugi Tenagaru." He looked at the two new girls he was teamed up with.

_I can easily see why we three were put together: I am good at genjutsu and ninjutsu but not much good at taijutsu, while both of them have good taijutsu and abilities that complement my own. It would be wise to get to know them right away._

Kegira was bored, what was taking the Jounin so long to get here? She had never been a patient person and was she being kept waiting, she hated waiting. She hated hating things and she hated that. It made her angry, but unfortunately she had to _contain _her emotions! Contain them! She hated that. Some of the brainier students had formulated a hypothesis: The Kegira Hate Law, which basically stated that Kegira at some point hated everything eventually, just never all at the same time. She hated them for being right like that.

Suddenly Mikugi walked up to her and held out a hand, he had a serene and calm look on his face, as if he wasn't looking completely at the physical world and instead to be half-seeing something no one else could see. Kegira hated that. He spoke while holding out his hand intending a handshake.

"Why hello Kegira, I'm sure you already know who I am…"

_Of course I do, Mr. Greenhaired Tenagaru Clan Brat. You are the only guy in the class who has the worst Taijutsu grade ever, yet still managed to pass, either through some Clan meddling or through your freaky talent at Genjutsu and Ninjutsu. Too bad you never inherited your Clan's Kekkai Genkai! No wait, that's not bad at all, one less guy from a noble family thinking the world revolves around him because of his genes. Hooray!_

"…Since you know, we are fellow classmates. Pleased to meet you anyways."

He dropped his hand to the side, Kegira hated people not polite enough to wait for the handshake to come. She also hated people polite to try a handshake in the first place, she realized this was contradictory and hated that. As a result the three hates canceled each other out, and she responded.

"Yea, whatever teammate. Just don't mess things up."

"Good advice, thank you."

Mikugi responded with his usual tranquility. Kegira hated that, so she said

"Gah, be quiet, you are too peaceful- you cannot be so at peace all the time. It is not natural."

"Why not? Being at peace is the best state there is, I wouldn't be able to think if I were not in this state. If anything, you are too easily angered."

"It keeps me focused, hating something allows me to keep my mind only on it, if I don't I get distracted."

A new voice spoke

"That doesn't sound very healthy Miss Denjo, maybe you should calm yourself."

The two Genin looked to see that Shenmaru had walked up to them. She had a stony, stoic expression on her face somewhere between determination and no emotion at all.

"Why hello Shenmaru" Mikugi said. "A girl of hate, and a girl of stone. I think this will be an interesting team." He smirked.

"Great, I am stuck between an animate statue and a smiling river! I'm going to hate you two for a LONG time…"

"…Your are just my Teammates. Nothing less, nothing more, you are not worth expending emotion on. It would be detrimental to our job as shinobi."

Kegira spotted the difference between her and Mikugi right away: Mikugi was serene, tranquil and welcoming while Shenmaru was stone, insular with an iron defense built around her. They were both calm, but they achieved it in different ways. She hated that, how can they be so calm? It baffled her.

Pretty soon, the three Jounin entered. The Jounin of Team 11 was Fuyuna Tokorano, having a similar appearance to her younger sister Sanaji but was taller and looked more experienced.

The Jounin of Team 12 was Suijen Nakamani, a woman also with orange eyes and black hair of her clan, even more creepily she wore her hair in pigtails as if she were still a teenager.

However the Jounin of Team 13 was Dojikan Matsuya, a bald muscular man. He had scars all over his head and down his arms, and you could easily imagine them covering his entire body; he looked like as if someone had stolen a bunch of organs, muscles, skin and bones, then sown them all together to form this Frankenstein of a man.

"Mr. Tenagaru, do you think it odd that Miss Tokorano Senior was assigned to Miss Tokorano Junior's team?" Shenmaru asked.

"Yes, but you must remember: Rakaru Jiniga. He gone rogue only a few months ago, before that he was going to be assigned to Team 11, but then he just killed the team he was with on a mission to put down rebels, and ran. So the Shukage needed to assign Team 11 another Jounin and she was the only one available."

Kegira asked "Oy Shen, don't ya think that it would have been easier to say "Fuyuna" and "Sanaji" rather than call them "Miss Tokorano-"whatever?"

"No, Miss Denjo. However I do not see the issue, as both ways of designation are valid and true."

"…You are _weird _y'know that?" Kegira said. She hated weird.

"Please, define 'weird'." Shenmaru replied.

Mikugi would have answered "Definition of Weird: normal, average everyday ninja with a healthy psychological profile, apparently meaning that all ninja are somehow weird/ crazy and showing signs that said quirks of their personality are to help them deal with killing people all the time." But he was rudely interrupted by their Jounin.

"Ok! You three come with me, I've got something to tell you in private."

The three Genin followed their Jounin out of the village proper and into a training ground.

The training ground was a pretty good example of the environment of the Land of Hills in general; as could be extrapolated from the name, you could see hills rising a sort distance away. All around them however were dour old pine trees, with dark pine nettles and darker bark. The sky above was cloudy and gray, the whole place was cool and even a little chilly. It gave a feeling of being muted and of slowness.

Dojikan spoke again.

"Listen up! As you know I am Dojikan Matsuya, your Jounin. I was assigned to you three to make you STRONG! I am here to put you on the grinder and SHARPEN YOU, sharpen you until you become swords! Swords able to cut through ANYTHING, swords that shall strike down the infernal enemies of the Land of Hills! For you are to become not just ninja, but the very best ninja that you can be to serve the glorious nation of The Land of Hills! To do so, you need to become the STRONGEST YOU CAN BE! Weakness is not tolerated in the Land of Hills, and the Village Hidden the Night, our capital, is not the exception, but the SHINING EXAMPLE of this!"

Dojikan took a deep breath and spoke again, spouting out more fanatical propaganda.

"That above all, is what we train for. However, you must demonstrate that you are WORTHY of becoming strong! You must have the will, the strength, the power to serve the glorious nation of the Land of the Hills! Tomorrow, you shall have a test at 8 AM sharp! The test is to defeat your opponent. I shall not reveal your opponent until that time, so you must prepare for ANYTHING! Any questions?"

Kegira spoke up "Yea can I-"

"TOO BAD! Not answering any! You are dismissed!" Dojikan interrupted.

Seeing that it was useless to stay, they went back to the village.

Kegira and Shenmaru went to their respective apartments.

There, Shenmaru remembered a kind family, one that was big and stayed big despite the food shortage. She remembered a baby, some arguing. She remembered having to leave. She remembered coming here, and she remembered training.

Kegira didn't remember a mother, but she remembered a father. She remembered that father crying, that father angry, that father _punching…_ she remembered running away, she remembered finding the academy by chance.

However Mikugi went to his Clan's neighborhood, and there to his family's household.

Everywhere he looked, the Clan's symbol- a drop of water- mingled with posters with slogans and heroic people in them. He noticed a new poster today: "We are Strong, they are Weak." and it depicted Hidden Ninja standing triumphant over a bunch of ninja from Hidden Leaf Village, Hidden Mist Village, Hidden Sand village, and others, the dead ninja from these other villages look ugly and thuggish, while the Hidden Night ninja looked like picture-perfect heroes.

There was also the crescent moon symbol of the Village of the Hidden Night here and there, but Mikugi had no idea why those were there.

He went inside the Tenagaru household. He walked into the living room, where his brothers were sitting eating dinner, both Chounin, one was Nojikago who only became Chounin two years ago and was fifteen years old, the other, older brother who was a Jounin in all but name was eighteen was named Denkan. Both had green hair but Denkan's was darker than Mikugi's while Nojikago's was lighter. Nojikago's hair was also longer than Mikugi's and Denkan's was even longer.

"Why hello it's the new Genin. How do you feel Mik?" Nojikago asked.

"At peace, as always." Mikugi replied in a soft tone as he always did. "The team I was assigned to is interesting, and I noted that two-thirds of those who passed were girls."

"Odd." Nojikago commented "When I passed the Academy, it was two-thirds boys who passed, strange really, how these patterns show up like that."

Mikugi shrugged and asked

"Where are mom and dad? Are they working late again?"

Nojikago nodded "Yup, they are being workaholics again, trying to track down enemies of the Hidden Night Village."

Denkan spoke up "That reminds me, today I heard that another ninja and their family were killed by Rakaru Jiniga."

Nojikago flashed a worried look "Again? That is the second time this month."

"I know, and no one can find a pattern to his killings, sometimes he kills important ninja or Jounin, other times only Chounin die. Sometimes civilians are targeted for discernable reason. It baffles the investigator-nin."

Mikugi only smiled "Do not worry, I'm sure Rakaru will be caught eventually. Anyways I am going upstairs, I need to practice my Jutsu for the test Dojikan will give tomorrow."

Denkan grinned "Dojikan? I feel sorry for you! He ain't called 'The Iron Ninja' for nothing…"

Night came and passed, the three Genin got up, got prepared for Dojikan's test and went back to the training ground, arriving at 8 AM sharp as told. When they got there, Dojikan was grinning, his eyes hard and intense.

"So you three got here just in time eh? At least you are punctual. So you want to know who you are facing? Let me hear a 'yes'"

"Yes!" all three said.

"Louder."

"YES!"

"You sure?"

"YES!!"

"Good, you got determination. Your enemies are each other, battle until the other two are incapacitated."

He clapped his hands and shouted.

"GO!!"

He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

-------------------

this is my first shot at writing fan fiction, this story takes place in the _Naruto _universe.

I thought it would be interesting to look at what nations outside the Hidden Leaf Village be like and write about original characters instead of the ones that already exist.

I'm probably not that good, if you see a bunch of flaws, I will NOT be surprised.


	2. Chapter 2: Psyche

The Story of Mikugi

Chapter 2: Psyche.

"YES!!"

"Good, you got determination. Your enemies are each other, battle until the other two are incapacitated."

He clapped his hands and shouted

"GO!!"

He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The three genin immediately leaped back from one another, they stood facing each other in a rough triangle, trying to size each other up. The three of them didn't really know each other. In an Academy where one was taught to be a ninja, a cold-blooded killer and member of the military, you didn't have time to make friends, especially when spending most your days practicing Jutsu. Therefore what they knew of each other was only through observation during years of watching each other practice jutsu.

Kegira Denjo was very observant, and what primarily stood out now was that she observed that Mikugi had never been good at taijutsu.

She quickly formed a handseal and whispered "Flame Armor Jutsu!"

With that, her chakra converted itself into a veil of fire surrounding her entire body, a technique not only to deal more damage with taijutsu, but prevent other taijutsu users from damaging _her. _Punching at fire was after all, not a smart option.

She ran forward then leaped, lunging at Mikugi to punch the serene bastard right in his face, She hit home, getting him in the right nose. Kegira smiled, she had wanted to do that for so long.

Then there was a puff of smoke, and sure enough it turns out he had used a Replacement Jutsu with a log.

She cursed under her breath, but then again the move wasn't unexpected.

She turned around while drawing a kunai to block Mikugi's ice kunai.

Mikugi attacking her from behind with a kunai made of ice wasn't much so either.

"How clever." Kegira said sarcastically.

"It normally works." Said Mikugi peacefully.

"This does to." And with other hand she curled it into a flaming fist and punched Mikugi in the face, again.

This time Mikugi fell backwards from the punch landing prone on the ground.

"Not so peaceful now are ya, Mik?" she snarled.

"Actually I find I am very tranquil at this, seeing as you are punching at nothing."

Startled, she turned her head to see a second Mikugi standing opposite from his original position.

"What the-? How?" she stuttered.

Then the first Mikugi faded away, it had been a genjutsu.

"Ah I see" said Kegira "You put a genjutsu on me to lure in the opposite direction so that you can attack me with your ranged ninjutsu while I was fighting your illusion."

Mikugi had always been good at genjutsu.

"No, I did nothing, you just started attacking at nothing over there while Shenmaru started to sneak up on you, in fact she is right behind you right now."

_OH FUCK! _Kegira thought.

She whirled around to see Shenmaru coming at her with a kunai, Kegira acted quickly and dodged, Kegira then thrust her kunai back at Shenmaru who blocked it with her own.

Kegira smiled and pressed the advantage, she knew Shenmaru had no way to get around her Flame Armor and she just had to keep track of the kunai so she could dodge or block it, Shenmaru's genjutsu couldn't help her when her hands were busy with defending herself from her flame-covered attacker.

Kegira was forcing Shenmaru back, keeping up the offensive and trying to find an opening. Their kunai met and they held for a few moments, sparks coming off from them.

They then jumped back from each other, skidding to halt.

"You know you can't defend yourself from me forever, Shen." Kegira grinned.

"Taijutsu will never work on me with my Flame Armor up. Just give up now and I'll punch Mikugi for giving you away."

"No. This is a contest of skill and strength. I must win." Shenmaru answered with the same dull tone.

"Suit yourself- more fun for me!" Kegira charged forward seeking to press her advantage once more. Then suddenly…

"Water Jet Jutsu!"

…a jet of water suddenly came from the side and hit Kegira square in the chest and spraying all over her.

Kegira's Flame Armor had been put out, smoke was rising all around her.

Mikugi was calm with a formed hand seal, he had blasted the water at Kegira.

"Please, continue." He admonished, smiling.

Shenmaru quickly tossed her kunai into the air, formed a handseal and whispered.

"Fake Hands Jutsu."

She then caught her kunai and drew out a second, charging towards Kegira.

She started stabbing thrusting her kunai at Kegira, the Fake Hands genjutsu making it seem there were more hands and kunai than there actually were, making it hard for Kegira to tell which hands were real and which where fake. Now Shenmaru pressed the advantage, driving Kegira back in a daring offensive combining genjutsu and taijutsu.

Mikugi watched Shenmaru attack Kegira, smiling to himself. With the Flame Armor down, Kegira had no defense to protect her from taijutsu and so Shenmaru now had the advantage, being able to attack at will, and will keep up her attack, lest Kegira have time to form another handseal and reactivate her Flame Armor.

Mikugi watched cuts form on Kegira's cheek, arm and leg. It was quite fascinating that removing one tactical factor from the equation changed everything, how some water completely turned the tide, pardon the pun.

Amazing what one could do with a D-rank Jutsu used to water plants.

Mikugi watched, as the two kunoichi did his work for him.

Kegira dodged, blocked, get cut and backed away in desperation, damn that Mikugi! He probably thought this was amusing or something, turning the tables like this. She wasn't laughing. Worse, she didn't even know if she was fighting the real Shenmaru, or just a genjutsu- whether it was Mikugi's genjutsu or Shenmaru's was a moot point. Not even knowing if you were fighting a real person in the ninja was normal; the art of deception was tricky like that. Then she saw an opening in Shenamru's defenses, taking it she punched Shenmaru right in the chest. Solid hit, this was the real deal. Taking advantage of this, Kegira then kicked Shenmaru in the stomach, then punched her in the face, sending her sprawling then she fell to the ground _apparently _defeated.

Kegira turned to Mikugi and used her Flame Armor Jutsu, the flames once again covering her body.

"Alright, now to get rid of you, I've had it with your tranquility, your smiles and your stupid noble family heritage. I'm gonna beat you!"

He merely smiled and chided "Now, now don't be rude sweetie." patiently as if she was a child, but such an assessment of her character is not far from the mark.

She charged at him, her fire flaring up from anger at the remark, her kunai held right in front of her, he used Water Jet Jutsu again but she was ready for it this time and jumped to the side, charging again.

This time he threw a bunch of shuriken at her, he hit some of them way with her kunai, then he threw a kunai with a piece of paper attached to it, she dodged again, it was probably just an explosive tag.

After that, it was a straight charge, Mikugi wasn't doing anything, he was just standing there, serene and calm as always. Thinking he had run out of tricks she aimed a punch at him.

"Take this, you-"

Her flaming fist stopped inches from his face.

"What the-!?" Kegira exclaimed.

She was in the grip of a bunch of tentacles made out of water, restraining her and putting out her Flame Armor, and she was being dragged back wards- back to the kunai Mikugi had thrown with the tag on it.

"What have you done, you serene bastard!?" she shouted in anger.

He smiled an explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Oh, all I did was inscribe my Aqua Tentacles Jutsu on some of my tag supply last night, in preparation for today's foe, which turned out to be the two of you. I then simply threw a kunai with the prepared Jutsu on it and waited for it to activate and restrain you."

He chuckled a little.

"To be honest, I was a little nervous a moment ago, I thought the tag wouldn't activate soon enough, but I guess I timed it just good enough."

Kegira had now been dragged to the ground by the water tentacles.

"Now you are incapacitated and out of the fight." Mikugi said matter-of-factly. "However Shenmaru….if you think you are fooling anyone with playing possum, you are sorely mistaken."

With that Shenmaru jumped up, formed a handseal- then faded into invisibility

"Wait, I didn't take her down?" Kegira asked indignantly.

"No you didn't, Shenmaru also practices taijutsu, do you think she would be so easily taken down? She deceived you- twice as you fell for that genjutsu of me when you started the fight."

He returned his attention to Shenmaru, who could be anywhere right now.

"Hiding are you Shenmaru?" Mikugi said. "You better come out because…" he took out a kunai and pressed it to Kegira's throat. "If you don't, I might slit this girls throat, you wouldn't her death on her hands would you?" He had instantly slipped into a cold, sadistic persona, he was radiating killer intent and there was a sinister smile on his face.

" After all, it is the duty of all shinobi to protect their comrades is it not? Come out! Or she dies…"

Shenmaru spoke

"You are bluffing, you would never do that."

The kunai that was at Kegira's throat suddenly whizzed through the air to the right of Mikugi. It suddenly stopped in midair, and Shenmaru faded in, holding the caught kunai between her two hands.

_That was stupid of me, Mr. Tenagaru knew that he had no way of revealing me, so he did something completely unexpected to trick me into revealing my location, he really WAS bluffing- and he used that bluff well._

Mikugi then formed a hand seal, whispering "Ice Shuriken Jutsu."

Shuriken made out of ice flew through the air, Shenmaru dived over to the side and rolled into a landing where she saw Mikugi forming another hand seal.

"Water Dragon Jutsu!"

A big water dragon suddenly seemed to grow from thin air, a monstrous, powerful ninjutsu of a controlled monster, representing the pure power of the sea itself. The water dragon roared and surged down towards Shenmaru. At the display of this mighty Jutsu even Shenmaru's stoicism cracked, completely freaking out she ran in the opposite direction of the mighty thing.

But even as she ran, rationality was working on the problem.

_That's….impossible, the Water Dragon is like a B or A class rank Jutsu! No genin no matter how smart they are shouldn't be able to perform this kind of Jutsu. Hmm….I wonder…_

She turned around, formed the Genjutsu Release hand seal and said "Kai!"

The image of the awesome mighty fury of the water dragon was replaced by the more modest Aqua Tentacles lunging to grab at her, so the dragon really was a genjutsu.

She jumped off to the side from the tentacles.

_Mr. Tenagaru was trying to use the genjutsu to mask his real jutsu with one far more terrifying to dispel rationality so that I would be easily incapacitated, well played but not good enough._

She created turned invisible- then three Shenmaru's appeared visible and rushed straight towards Mikugi in attack formation.

He threw ice shuriken at them, all three disappeared in a puff of smoke. Shadow clones. Which mean the real Shenmaru was-

He took out a kunai, whirled around and blocked her attack from behind

- right behind him, trying to sneak attack again. However he didn't see coming that she had a kunai in her other hand, which she took advantage of his surprise and stabbed him right in the heart.

For moment, he looked shocked, looking down at the killing blow.

Then he smiled and said "Psyche, I'm a trap." With that 'Mikugi' deformed into water- this Mikugi had been a water clone- then formed into Aqua Tentacles, Shenmaru was taken by surprise and restrained like Kegira, being dragged to the ground by the tentacles.

Both Kegira and Shenmaru were incapacitated.

A figure strode in from the trees with green hair. It was the real Mikugi.

"Did you like playing with my water clone? I made sure he was fun as possible."

"You mean…" Kegira snarled.

"…That the two of us, just fought a water clone this _whole time _while you waited a few feet away being safe and cozy so that we tired ourselves out fighting the clone and you could have stepped in at any time, to do things yourself!?"

"Yea, pretty much." Mikugi smirked

"Ok, _why _in the world did you hide in the trees and send out a water clone in the first place?" Kegira demanded, still angry.

Mikugi explained.

"That is simple: because there was no good reason to go into this clearing today myself.

Dojikan said that we would be facing an opponent, but did not specify that opponent. Therefore he could have almost anyone chosen to be our opponents, that someone might have been more experienced than us, or an opponent we never had any knowledge of. Best case scenario is that we would be facing other genin who are at equal skill level to us- and all the other scenarios would have us facing off against even more skilled opponents. Meaning even in the best case scenario, I would be facing someone I would have no guarantee of winning against and in the worst case scenario, an opponent I would have no chance of winning against at all. Either way, there was no reason to enter the clearing as I would be vulnerable to said opponent. I was simply doing what was the most rational course of action, given my lack of information."

Dojikan appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well, well well." The Iron Ninja mused.

"It seems that Mikugi has won, a user of genjutsu and ninjutsu, over a taijutsu and ninjutsu user" he glanced at Kegira. "and a genjutsu and taijutsu user." He looked at Shenmaru. " Do not worry, you have convinced me that all of you have strength. Everyone has a different strength, and that strength gives them power, and that power

is going to be used FOR THE GLORIOUS LAND OF THE HILLS! We have enemies everywhere, they all conspire to bring the Village Hidden in the Night down. You're strength is needed, do not fail. Oh and Mikugi, you can release them from your Aqua Tentacles now."

Meanwhile a ninja sat in the shadows, watching the whole thing play out.

"Yes..." breathed Rakaru. "He is ready."

Dun dun dun DUUUUNN!!!

Please review.


End file.
